Prevented by the jealousy and the restrictive policy of the Italian cities, English traders had hitherto not ventured on voyages so distant as the Levant, the general policy of the republics of the south throwing various difficulties in the way of foreign shipping. By the Crusades, however, the eyes of English merchants and mariners were alike opened to the successful undertakings of the Mediterranean traders; to them also is largely due the constitution of England’s first shipping code, based, as this was, on more ancient laws, with many improvements derived from the increased knowledge due to the recent experience of her mariners.[531] [Sidenote: Power to pledge ship and tackle.] By the first article in these laws a master had power to pledge, with the advice of his mariners, the tackle of the ship for the necessary provisions; but could not sell the hull without special authority from the owners. Previously, it had not been thought safe to entrust any one with the command of a ship unless he was a part owner or a freeman; but, by the laws of Richard I., these restrictions were abolished, and the qualifications and duties of the captain for the first time defined by statute. Everything on board being placed under the master’s care, he was required to understand thoroughly the art of piloting and navigation, that he might control the pilot. In a merchantman, the first officer was then practically the master, the second, the pilot;[532] the third, the mate; the fourth, the factor or supercargo; then followed his assistant, and after him came the accountants, surgeon, steward, four corporals, cook, gunner, and coxswain, the two latter having their quarters before the mast with the ship’s crew, but receiving higher wages. [Sidenote: The sailors consulted.] By the second article if a vessel lay in port, waiting for weather and a wind, the master was instructed, when the time for departure arrived, to call together his ship’s company and inquire what they thought of the wind and weather. A difference of opinion arising, he was bound to be guided by the majority, and was legally responsible, if any accident happened, to make good damages caused by his unsupported act. It was, in fact, a standing rule for the master to act with the advice of the greater part of his ship’s company and of the merchants, if any were on board. The third clause provided, that if the ship’s crew should not, unless under compulsion, do everything in their power to save the vessel and cargo from shipwreck, they should forfeit their wages. If they saved a part of the cargo they were sent home, by raising money on the goods so saved. The fourth article, relating to salvage, was very similar to that enacted by the Rhodian law, the allowance of the half, third, or tenth of the articles saved being regulated according to the depth of the water out of which they were raised. Any promises extorted by danger were either void or not too strictly interpreted.